The Great Gildersleeve
Encyclopedia
The Great Gildersleeve initially written by Leonard Lewis Levinson, was one of broadcast history's earliest spin-off
programs. Built around Throckmorton Philharmonic Gildersleeve, a character who had been a staple on the classic radio
situation comedy Fibber McGee and Molly
, first Introduced to FMAM on 10/3/39 ep #216. The Great Gildersleeve enjoyed its greatest success in the 1940s. Actor Harold Peary
played the character during its transition from the parent show into the spin-off and later in a quartet of feature films released at the height of the show's popularity.
On Fibber McGee and Molly, Peary's Gildersleeve was a pompous windbag who became a consistent McGee nemesis. "You're a haa-aa-aa-aard man, McGee!" became a Gildersleeve catchphrase. The character was given several conflicting first names on Fibber McGee and Molly, and on one episode his middle name was revealed as Philharmonic. Gildy admits as much at the end of "Gildersleeve's Diary" on the Fibber McGee and Molly series (10/22/40).
He soon became so popular that Kraft Foods
—looking primarily to promote its Parkay
margarine
spread — sponsored a new series with Peary's Gildersleeve as the central, slightly softened and slightly befuddled focus of a lively new family.
on August 31, 1941, The Great Gildersleeve moved the title character from the McGees' Wistful Vista to Summerfield, where Gildersleeve now oversaw his late brother-in-law's estate and took on the rearing of his orphaned niece and nephew, Marjorie (originally played by Lurene Tuttle
and followed by Louise Erickson and Mary Lee Robb
) and Leroy Forester (Walter Tetley
). The household also included a cook named Birdie. Curiously, while Gildersleeve had occasionally spoken of his (never-present
) wife in some Fibber episodes, in his own series the character was a confirmed bachelor.
In a striking forerunner to such later television hits as Bachelor Father and Family Affair
, both of which are centered on well-to-do uncles taking in their deceased siblings' children, Gildersleeve was a bachelor raising two children while, at first, administering a girdle manufacturing company ("If you want a better corset, of course, it's a Gildersleeve") and then for the bulk of the show's run, serving as Summerfield's water commissioner, between time with the ladies and nights with the boys. The Great Gildersleeve may have been the first broadcast show to be centered on a single parent balancing child-rearing, work, and a social life, done with taste and genuine wit, often at the expense of Gildersleeve's now slightly understated pomposity.
Many of the original episodes were co-written by John Whedon
, father of Tom Whedon
(who wrote The Golden Girls
), and grandfather of Deadwood
scripter Zack Whedon and Joss Whedon
(creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
, Firefly
and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
).
The key to the show was Peary, whose booming voice and facility with moans, groans, laughs, shudders and inflection was as close to body language and facial suggestion as a voice could get. Peary was so effective, and Gildersleeve became so familiar a character, that he was referenced and satirized periodically in other comedies and in a few cartoons.
). Although in the first season, under writer Levinson, Birdie was often portrayed as saliently less than bright, she slowly developed as the real brains and caretaker of the household under writers John Whedon, Sam Moore and Andy White. In many of the later episodes Gildersleeve has to acknowledge Birdie's commonsense approach to some of his predicaments. By the early 1950s, Birdie was heavily depended on by the rest of the family in fulfilling many of the functions of the household matriarch, whether it be giving sound advice to an adolescent Leroy or tending Marjorie's children.
By the late 1940s, Marjorie slowly matures to a young woman of marrying age. During the 9th season (September 1949-June 1950) Marjorie meets and marries (May 10) Walter "Bronco" Thompson (Richard Crenna
), star football player at the local college. The event was popular enough that Look
devoted five pages in its May 23, 1950 issue to the wedding. After living in the same household for a few years with their twin babies Ronnie and Linda, the newlyweds move next door to keep the expanding Gildersleeve clan close together.
Leroy, aged 10–11 during most of the 1940s, is the all-American boy who grudgingly practices his piano lessons, gets bad report cards, fights with his friends and cannot remember to not slam the door. Although he is loyal to his Uncle Mort, he is always the first to deflate his ego with a well-placed "Ha!!!" or "What a character!" Beginning in the Spring of 1949, he finds himself in junior high and is at last allowed to grow up, establishing relationships with the girls in the Bullard home across the street. From an awkward adolescent who hangs his head, kicks the ground and giggles whenever Brenda Knickerbocker comes near, he transforms himself overnight (November 28, 1951) into a more mature young man when Babs Winthrop (both girls played by Barbara Whiting) approaches him about studying together. From then on, he branches out with interests in driving, playing the drums and dreaming of a musical career.
), with whom he had many battles during the first few broadcast seasons. After a change in scriptwriters from Levinson (August 1941 to December 1942) to the team of Whedon and Moore in January 1943, the confrontations slowly subside and a true friendship slowly blossoms. In an early episode, Throckmorton was given the key of the city to Gildersleeve, Connecticut, a village in the town of Portland, Connecticut
.
Joining Throckmorton's circle of close acquaintances during the second season (September 1942) are Richard Q. Peavey (Richard LeGrand
), the friendly neighborhood pharmacist, whose nasal-voiced delivery and famous catchphrase, "Well, now, I wouldn't say that!" always elicited giggles from the studio audience (and was frequently quoted in animated cartoons such as 1945's Draftee Daffy
); and Floyd Munson (Arthur Q. Bryan
), the rough-around-the-edges neighborhood barber.
Munson was played by Mel Blanc
in at least two episodes of the first season: coincidentally, Bryan was the originator of the voice and character of Elmer Fudd
, the one voice which Blanc never thought he had made his own. Blanc appeared frequently in other episodes, uncredited, often voicing two or more supporting characters: deliverymen in "Planting A Tree" and "Father's Day Chair" also "Gus", a petty crook in the latter; a radio station manager and a policeman in "Mystery Singer" are a few.
In the fourth season, (October 8, 1944) these three friends, along with Police Chief Donald Gates (Ken Christy), form the nucleus of the Jolly Boys Club whose activities revolve around practicing barbershop quartet songs between sips of Coca-Cola
.
Adding spice to Gildersleeve's life are the women who come and go: the Georgia widow Leila Ransom (Shirley Mitchell
), who leaves him at the altar on the last show of the 1942-43 season (June 27, 1943), and the school principal Eve Goodwin (Bea Benaderet
), who was another close call at the altar of matrimony (June 25, 1944). After almost being trapped a third time (1948-49 season) to Leila's cousin Adeline Fairchild (Una Merkel
) Throckmorton learns his lesson and makes sure his future involvement with women is much more circumspect. He dates the sisters of his surly neighbor from across the street, Ellen Bullard Knickerbocker (Martha Scott
) and Paula Bullard Winthrop (Jeanne Bates
), as well as Nurse Katherine Milford and school principal Irene Henshaw (both played by Cathy Lewis
) in an on-and-off fashion over many years, making sure the situation doesn't progress beyond the just friends state (although he's always after that special kiss).
To add adversity to Gildersleeve's world is the aforementioned surly neighbor from across the street: the retired millionaire Rumson Bullard, after initial portrayals by another actor, was portrayed definitively by Gale Gordon
, who was more pompous than the earlier version of the Gildersleeve character. Coincidentally, Gordon also portrayed Wistful Vista's Mayor La Trivia on Fibber McGee and Molly, filling the role of "pompous neighbor" which had previously been Gildersleeve's. Bullard was the focus of a continuity error: he began as a happily married man with two children and inexplicably became a widower with sisters and nieces living with him periodically. In numerous episodes, Mr. Bullard alternates between being chummy with "Gildy" (in order to get something he wants) to calling him a "nincompoop water buffalo". The two often court the same women (particularly Katherine Milford).
talent raids of the time began to take their toll. The most painful result of the raids was the jump of Jack Benny
and Burns and Allen
to CBS, forcing NBC to offer more lucrative deals to Bob Hope
, Phil Harris
and Alice Faye
in order to keep them from defecting. Harold Peary was convinced to move The Great Gildersleeve to CBS, but sponsor Kraft refused to sanction the move. Peary, now contracted to CBS, was legally unable to appear on NBC as a star performer, but Gildersleeve was still an NBC series. This prompted the hiring of Willard Waterman
as Peary's replacement, the transition occurring during the show's 1950 summer hiatus between Episode 369 ("Houseboat Vacation") and Episode 370 ("Marjorie is Expecting") with several audience-aware in-jokes noting the change in the first act of the latter episode. Peary, meanwhile, began a new series on CBS which was a rather obvious attempt to reproduce the Gildersleeve show with the names changed. The Harold Peary Show, lasting a single season, included a fictitious radio show within the show. This was Honest Harold, hosted by Peary's new character.
Waterman and Peary were longtime friends from Chicago radio; Waterman had replaced Peary as the Sheriff in The Tom Mix Ralston Straightshooters in the 1930s. His voice was a near-perfect match for Peary's, though he refused to use Peary's signature laugh. Peary reportedly sued unsuccessfully to retain the right to both the Gildersleeve character and vocalisms, but Waterman agreed with Peary that only one man held the patent on the Gildersleeve laugh.
Starting in mid-1952, some of the program's long time characters (Judge Hooker, Floyd Munson, Marjorie and her husband) would be missing for months at a time. In their place were a few new ones (Mr. Cooley, the Egg Man, and Mrs. Potter the hypochondriac) who would last only a month or so. By 1953, Gildy's love life took center stage over that of his family and friends. His many love interests were constantly shifting, and women were coming and going with such frequency that the audience had a hard time keeping up. His adversary, meanwhile, shifted from Mr. Bullard, who disappeared completely from the cast of characters, to Dr. Clarence Olsen (George N. Niese).
1954 saw a drastic change in the show's format. After missing the fall schedule, it finally appeared in November as 15-minute episodes that aired five times a week, Sunday through Thursday from 10:15 to 10:30pm Eastern, immediately following the quarter-hour version of Fibber McGee and Molly
. Only Gildy, Leroy and Birdie remained on a continuing basis. All other characters were seldom heard and gone were Marjorie and her family as well as the studio audience, live orchestra and original scripts.
The radio show also suffered from the advent of television. A televised version of the show, produced and syndicated by NBC
(after the pilot episode appeared twice on the network in late 1954), also starring Waterman, premiered in 1955 but lasted only 39 episodes. During that year, both the 15-minute radio show and the television show were being produced simultaneously. The radio series was taped on days when the TV production was inactive. Because of the grueling schedule, quality suffered. Only a few examples of the quarter-hour shows have survived. By the time the radio show entered its final season, The Great Gildersleeve' s remaining radio audience heard only rerun
s of previous episodes.
The television series is considered now to be something of an insult to the Great Gildersleeve legacy. Gildersleeve was sketched as less lovable, more pompous and a more overt womanizer, an insult amplified when Waterman himself said the key to the television version's failure was its director not having known a thing about the radio classic. Peary later appeared in the 1959 TV version of Fibber McGee and Molly as Mayor LaTrivia. Fibber McGee and Molly also failed to migrate to television in the 1950s without radio stars Jim and Marion Jordan in the TV cast. Actress Barbara Stuart
landed her first television acting role on The Great Gildersleeve in the role of Gildersleeve's secretary, Bessie.
Child actor Michael Winkelman
, later of The Real McCoys
, made his first television appearance on The Great Gildersleeve in the role of 9-year-old Bruce Fuller.
in Look Who's Laughing (1941) and Here We Go Again (1942), Peary finally received top billing for a brief series of RKO films. The Great Gildersleeve (1942) also carried Randolph from the radio cast to the screen, with Nancy Gates as Marjorie and Freddie Mercer as Leroy. Walter Tetley, who played Leroy on radio, could not be seen on screen as Leroy because he was actually a child impersonator.
Gildersleeve on Broadway followed, in 1943; the story is centered on Leroy as the odd boy out as everyone around him is falling in love. Gildersleeve's Bad Day (1943) followed the mishaps around Gildy's call to jury duty; and, Gildersleeve's Ghost (1944) brings Gildy's relatives Randolph and Johnson up from the dead to help his campaign for police commissioner.
Peary went on to continue his career (often billed as Hal Peary) in films and television well into the 1970s; he was especially active as a voice actor for cartoons produced by Rankin-Bass and Hanna-Barbera
among others. He died of a heart attack in 1985. Waterman, who was a regular supporting character on radio's The Halls of Ivy
while doing his version of Gildersleeve, died a decade later.
, in heavy-bookleted four-disc 78rpm record
album
s. Stories for Children, Told in His Own Way by the Great Gildersleeve, was released in 1945 and was Capitol's first-ever such release for children. With orchestral accompaniment, it featured "Puss in Boots
," "Rumpelstiltskin
," and "Jack and the Beanstalk
." The second album, Children's Stories as Told by the Great Gildersleeve, in 1946, featured Hansel and Gretel
and The Brave Little Tailor, again with orchestral accompaniment. The third and final album in the series, reverting to the title of the first and released in 1947, included "Snow White
and Rose Red
" and "Cinderella
," once more with full orchestral accompaniment. The music was by Robert Emmett Dolan. To make sure stories would be unmistakably Gildersleevian without compromising their core integrity, Capitol brought in The Great Gildersleeve's chief writers, Sam Moore and John Whedon, to adapt them to Gildy's unmistakable bearing.
The Gildersleeve character was parodied in the 1945 Bugs Bunny
cartoon Hare Conditioned
, in which the rabbit distracts a menacing taxidermist
by telling him that he sounds "just like that guy on the radio, the Great Gildersneeze!" The taxidermist responds with "I do?!" followed by Gildy's famous chuckle. The Gildersleeve voice in this cartoon was done by radio actor and voice artist Dick Nelson.
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
programs. Built around Throckmorton Philharmonic Gildersleeve, a character who had been a staple on the classic radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
situation comedy Fibber McGee and Molly
Fibber McGee and Molly
Fibber McGee and Molly was an American radio comedy series which maintained its popularity over decades. It premiered on NBC in 1935 and continued until its demise in 1959, long after radio had ceased to be the dominant form of entertainment in American popular culture.-Husband and wife in real...
, first Introduced to FMAM on 10/3/39 ep #216. The Great Gildersleeve enjoyed its greatest success in the 1940s. Actor Harold Peary
Harold Peary
Harold Peary was an American actor, comedian and singer in radio, film, television and animation remembered best as Throckmorton P...
played the character during its transition from the parent show into the spin-off and later in a quartet of feature films released at the height of the show's popularity.
On Fibber McGee and Molly, Peary's Gildersleeve was a pompous windbag who became a consistent McGee nemesis. "You're a haa-aa-aa-aard man, McGee!" became a Gildersleeve catchphrase. The character was given several conflicting first names on Fibber McGee and Molly, and on one episode his middle name was revealed as Philharmonic. Gildy admits as much at the end of "Gildersleeve's Diary" on the Fibber McGee and Molly series (10/22/40).
He soon became so popular that Kraft Foods
Kraft Foods
Kraft Foods Inc. is an American confectionery, food and beverage conglomerate. It markets many brands in more than 170 countries. 12 of its brands annually earn more than $1 billion worldwide: Cadbury, Jacobs, Kraft, LU, Maxwell House, Milka, Nabisco, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Trident, Tang...
—looking primarily to promote its Parkay
Parkay
Parkay is a margarine made by ConAgra Foods. It was introduced in 1937. It is available in spreadable, sprayable and squeezeable forms. Starting in 1973, a commercial was made for Parkay called "the talking tub", in which the tub first says "butter" when someone nearby says "Parkay", then says...
margarine
Margarine
Margarine , as a generic term, can indicate any of a wide range of butter substitutes, typically composed of vegetable oils. In many parts of the world, the market share of margarine and spreads has overtaken that of butter...
spread — sponsored a new series with Peary's Gildersleeve as the central, slightly softened and slightly befuddled focus of a lively new family.
Premiere
Premiering on NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
on August 31, 1941, The Great Gildersleeve moved the title character from the McGees' Wistful Vista to Summerfield, where Gildersleeve now oversaw his late brother-in-law's estate and took on the rearing of his orphaned niece and nephew, Marjorie (originally played by Lurene Tuttle
Lurene Tuttle
Lurene Tuttle was a character actress, who made transitions from vaudeville to radio, to films and television. Her most enduring impact was as one of network radio's most versatile actresses...
and followed by Louise Erickson and Mary Lee Robb
Mary Lee Robb
Mary Lee Robb Cline was a radio actress during the 1940s and 1950s.As Mary Lee Robb, she's best known for playing Marjorie, Gildersleeve's niece, on The Great Gildersleeve. A small role in a 1948 episode of that program led to the full-time role of Marjorie, which she played until 1954.Robb made...
) and Leroy Forester (Walter Tetley
Walter Tetley
Walter Tetley , an American voice actor, was a child impersonator in radio's classic era, with regular roles on The Great Gildersleeve and The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show, as well as continuing as a voice-over artist in animated cartoons, commercials, and spoken-word record albums...
). The household also included a cook named Birdie. Curiously, while Gildersleeve had occasionally spoken of his (never-present
Unseen character
In fiction, an unseen character is a character that is never directly observed by the audience but is only described by other characters. They are a common device in drama and have been called "triumphs of theatrical invention". They are continuing characters — characters who are currently in...
) wife in some Fibber episodes, in his own series the character was a confirmed bachelor.
In a striking forerunner to such later television hits as Bachelor Father and Family Affair
Family Affair
Family Affair is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from September 12, 1966 to September 9, 1971. The series explored the trials of well-to-do civil engineer and bachelor Bill Davis as he attempted to raise his brother's orphaned children in his luxury New York City apartment. Davis' traditional...
, both of which are centered on well-to-do uncles taking in their deceased siblings' children, Gildersleeve was a bachelor raising two children while, at first, administering a girdle manufacturing company ("If you want a better corset, of course, it's a Gildersleeve") and then for the bulk of the show's run, serving as Summerfield's water commissioner, between time with the ladies and nights with the boys. The Great Gildersleeve may have been the first broadcast show to be centered on a single parent balancing child-rearing, work, and a social life, done with taste and genuine wit, often at the expense of Gildersleeve's now slightly understated pomposity.
Many of the original episodes were co-written by John Whedon
John Whedon
John Ogden Whedon was an American screenwriter. He is best known for his writing for the television series The Donna Reed Show during the 1950s...
, father of Tom Whedon
Tom Whedon
Tom Whedon is an American television screenwriter and son of 1950s TV screenwriter John Whedon. He and first wife, political activist Lee Stearns, are the parents of Film and TV Screenwriter Joss Whedon...
(who wrote The Golden Girls
The Golden Girls
The Golden Girls is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris, which originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992. Starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty, the show centers on four older women sharing a home in Miami, Florida...
), and grandfather of Deadwood
Deadwood
Deadwood may refer to:in geography*Deadwood, Alberta, hamlet in Alberta, Canada*Deadwood, California , several unincorporated communities in California, United States*Deadwood, Oregon, unincorporated community in Oregon, United States...
scripter Zack Whedon and Joss Whedon
Joss Whedon
Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American screenwriter, executive producer, director, comic book writer, occasional composer and actor, founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures...
(creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Buffyverse
The Buffyverse, also known as the Whedonverse or Slayerverse , is the shared fictional universe in which the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel are set. This term, originally coined by fans of the TV series, has since been used in the titles of published works, and adopted by Joss...
, Firefly
Firefly (TV series)
Firefly is an American space western television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon, under his Mutant Enemy Productions label. Whedon served as executive producer, along with Tim Minear....
and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is a 2008 musical tragicomedy miniseries in three acts, produced exclusively for Internet distribution. Filmed and set in Los Angeles, the show tells the story of Dr...
).
The key to the show was Peary, whose booming voice and facility with moans, groans, laughs, shudders and inflection was as close to body language and facial suggestion as a voice could get. Peary was so effective, and Gildersleeve became so familiar a character, that he was referenced and satirized periodically in other comedies and in a few cartoons.
Family
Aiding and abetting the periodically frantic life in the Gildersleeve home was family cook and housekeeper Birdie Lee Coggins (Lillian RandolphLillian Randolph
Lillian Randolph was an American actress and singer, a veteran of radio, film, and television. An African American, she worked in entertainment from the 1930s well into the 1970s, appearing in hundreds of radio shows, motion pictures, short subjects, and television shows.-Early years:Born...
). Although in the first season, under writer Levinson, Birdie was often portrayed as saliently less than bright, she slowly developed as the real brains and caretaker of the household under writers John Whedon, Sam Moore and Andy White. In many of the later episodes Gildersleeve has to acknowledge Birdie's commonsense approach to some of his predicaments. By the early 1950s, Birdie was heavily depended on by the rest of the family in fulfilling many of the functions of the household matriarch, whether it be giving sound advice to an adolescent Leroy or tending Marjorie's children.
By the late 1940s, Marjorie slowly matures to a young woman of marrying age. During the 9th season (September 1949-June 1950) Marjorie meets and marries (May 10) Walter "Bronco" Thompson (Richard Crenna
Richard Crenna
Richard Donald Crenna was an American motion picture, television, and radio actor and occasional television director. He starred in such motion pictures as The Sand Pebbles, Wait Until Dark, Body Heat, the first three Rambo movies, Hot Shots! Part Deux, and The Flamingo Kid...
), star football player at the local college. The event was popular enough that Look
Look (American magazine)
Look was a bi-weekly, general-interest magazine published in Des Moines, Iowa from 1937 to 1971, with more of an emphasis on photographs than articles...
devoted five pages in its May 23, 1950 issue to the wedding. After living in the same household for a few years with their twin babies Ronnie and Linda, the newlyweds move next door to keep the expanding Gildersleeve clan close together.
Leroy, aged 10–11 during most of the 1940s, is the all-American boy who grudgingly practices his piano lessons, gets bad report cards, fights with his friends and cannot remember to not slam the door. Although he is loyal to his Uncle Mort, he is always the first to deflate his ego with a well-placed "Ha!!!" or "What a character!" Beginning in the Spring of 1949, he finds himself in junior high and is at last allowed to grow up, establishing relationships with the girls in the Bullard home across the street. From an awkward adolescent who hangs his head, kicks the ground and giggles whenever Brenda Knickerbocker comes near, he transforms himself overnight (November 28, 1951) into a more mature young man when Babs Winthrop (both girls played by Barbara Whiting) approaches him about studying together. From then on, he branches out with interests in driving, playing the drums and dreaming of a musical career.
Neighbors and friends
Outside the home, Gildersleeve's closest association was with the cantankerous estate executor Judge Horace Hooker (Earle RossEarle Ross
Earle Ross was an American radio and film actor.While in school he became interested in dramatics and was usually cast as a villain or an old man because of his unusual voice characteristics. In 1908 he worked with Colonel Bill Selig in his first 5-reel movie film The Holy Cross...
), with whom he had many battles during the first few broadcast seasons. After a change in scriptwriters from Levinson (August 1941 to December 1942) to the team of Whedon and Moore in January 1943, the confrontations slowly subside and a true friendship slowly blossoms. In an early episode, Throckmorton was given the key of the city to Gildersleeve, Connecticut, a village in the town of Portland, Connecticut
Portland, Connecticut
Portland is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 8,732 at the 2000 census. The town center is listed as a census-designated place . It is situated across the Connecticut River from Middletown....
.
Joining Throckmorton's circle of close acquaintances during the second season (September 1942) are Richard Q. Peavey (Richard LeGrand
Richard LeGrand
Richard LeGrand was an American actor who was best known for his comedy characters on radio.Born in Portland, Oregon, LeGrand was backstage working the artificial snow when he made his stage debut to substitute for a missing actor. He continued in theater, doing dramas, musical comedies, tent...
), the friendly neighborhood pharmacist, whose nasal-voiced delivery and famous catchphrase, "Well, now, I wouldn't say that!" always elicited giggles from the studio audience (and was frequently quoted in animated cartoons such as 1945's Draftee Daffy
Draftee Daffy
Draftee Daffy is a 1945 Looney Tunes Daffy Duck cartoon, directed by Bob Clampett.- Plot :Having read about the U.S. fighting forces pushing the Nazi troops back during World War II , Daffy is in a patriotic mood...
); and Floyd Munson (Arthur Q. Bryan
Arthur Q. Bryan
Arthur Quirk Bryan was a United States comedian and voice actor, remembered best for his longtime recurring role as well-spoken, wisecracking Dr...
), the rough-around-the-edges neighborhood barber.
Munson was played by Mel Blanc
Mel Blanc
Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...
in at least two episodes of the first season: coincidentally, Bryan was the originator of the voice and character of Elmer Fudd
Elmer Fudd
Elmer J. Fudd/Egghead is a fictional cartoon character and one of the most famous Looney Tunes characters, and the de facto archenemy of Bugs Bunny. He has one of the more disputed origins in the Warner Bros. cartoon pantheon . His aim is to hunt Bugs, but he usually ends up seriously injuring...
, the one voice which Blanc never thought he had made his own. Blanc appeared frequently in other episodes, uncredited, often voicing two or more supporting characters: deliverymen in "Planting A Tree" and "Father's Day Chair" also "Gus", a petty crook in the latter; a radio station manager and a policeman in "Mystery Singer" are a few.
In the fourth season, (October 8, 1944) these three friends, along with Police Chief Donald Gates (Ken Christy), form the nucleus of the Jolly Boys Club whose activities revolve around practicing barbershop quartet songs between sips of Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
.
Adding spice to Gildersleeve's life are the women who come and go: the Georgia widow Leila Ransom (Shirley Mitchell
Shirley Mitchell
-Early life:Mitchell was born in Toledo, Ohio and attended the University of Toledo and the University of Michigan.-Career:After moving to Chicago, she appeared in the network broadcast of The First Nighter and played small parts in various soap operas including The Story of Mary Marlin and The...
), who leaves him at the altar on the last show of the 1942-43 season (June 27, 1943), and the school principal Eve Goodwin (Bea Benaderet
Bea Benaderet
Bea Benaderet was an American actress born in New York City and raised in San Francisco, California. She is best remembered for her wide variety of television work, which included a starring role in the 1960s television series Petticoat Junction and Green Acres as Shady Rest Hotel owner Kate...
), who was another close call at the altar of matrimony (June 25, 1944). After almost being trapped a third time (1948-49 season) to Leila's cousin Adeline Fairchild (Una Merkel
Una Merkel
Una Merkel was an American Tony Award-winning stage and film actress.-Life and career:Una Merkel was born in Covington, Kentucky, and grew up in Philadelphia and New York City. She bore a resemblance to actress Lillian Gish and began her career as a stand-in for Gish, most notably in the 1928...
) Throckmorton learns his lesson and makes sure his future involvement with women is much more circumspect. He dates the sisters of his surly neighbor from across the street, Ellen Bullard Knickerbocker (Martha Scott
Martha Scott
Martha Ellen Scott was an American actress best known for her roles as mother of the lead character in numerous films and television shows.-Early life:...
) and Paula Bullard Winthrop (Jeanne Bates
Jeanne Bates
Jeanne Bates was an American radio, film and television actress. She signed a contract with Columbia Pictures in 1942 which began her career in films both in bit parts and larger roles.-Career:...
), as well as Nurse Katherine Milford and school principal Irene Henshaw (both played by Cathy Lewis
Cathy Lewis
Cathy Lewis was an American actress remembered best for numerous radio appearances but making a number of film and television appearances in the last decade of her life....
) in an on-and-off fashion over many years, making sure the situation doesn't progress beyond the just friends state (although he's always after that special kiss).
To add adversity to Gildersleeve's world is the aforementioned surly neighbor from across the street: the retired millionaire Rumson Bullard, after initial portrayals by another actor, was portrayed definitively by Gale Gordon
Gale Gordon
Gale Gordon was an American character actor perhaps best remembered as Lucille Ball's longtime television foil—and particularly as cantankerously combustible, tightfisted bank executive Theodore J. Mooney, on Ball's second television situation comedy, The Lucy Show...
, who was more pompous than the earlier version of the Gildersleeve character. Coincidentally, Gordon also portrayed Wistful Vista's Mayor La Trivia on Fibber McGee and Molly, filling the role of "pompous neighbor" which had previously been Gildersleeve's. Bullard was the focus of a continuity error: he began as a happily married man with two children and inexplicably became a widower with sisters and nieces living with him periodically. In numerous episodes, Mr. Bullard alternates between being chummy with "Gildy" (in order to get something he wants) to calling him a "nincompoop water buffalo". The two often court the same women (particularly Katherine Milford).
Decline and fall
Beginning in 1950, the show's momentum changed as the legendary CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
talent raids of the time began to take their toll. The most painful result of the raids was the jump of Jack Benny
Jack Benny
Jack Benny was an American comedian, vaudevillian, and actor for radio, television, and film...
and Burns and Allen
Burns and Allen
Burns and Allen, an American comedy duo consisting of George Burns and his wife, Gracie Allen, worked together as a comedy team in vaudeville, films, radio and television and achieved great success over four decades.-Vaudeville:...
to CBS, forcing NBC to offer more lucrative deals to Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
, Phil Harris
Phil Harris
Harris and Faye married in 1941; it was a second marriage for both and lasted 54 years, until Harris's death. Harris engaged in a fistfight at the Trocadero nightclub in 1938 with RKO studio mogul Bob Stevens; the cause was reported to be over Faye after Stevens and Faye had ended a romantic...
and Alice Faye
Alice Faye
Alice Faye was an American actress and singer, called by The New York Times "one of the few movie stars to walk away from stardom at the peak of her career." She is remembered first for her stardom at 20th Century Fox and, later, as the radio comedy partner of her husband, bandleader and comedian...
in order to keep them from defecting. Harold Peary was convinced to move The Great Gildersleeve to CBS, but sponsor Kraft refused to sanction the move. Peary, now contracted to CBS, was legally unable to appear on NBC as a star performer, but Gildersleeve was still an NBC series. This prompted the hiring of Willard Waterman
Willard Waterman
Willard Lewis Waterman was a character actor in films, TV and on radio, remembered best for succeeding Harold Peary as the title character of The Great Gildersleeve at the height of that show's popularity.Peary was unable to convince sponsor and show owner Kraft Cheese to allow him an ownership...
as Peary's replacement, the transition occurring during the show's 1950 summer hiatus between Episode 369 ("Houseboat Vacation") and Episode 370 ("Marjorie is Expecting") with several audience-aware in-jokes noting the change in the first act of the latter episode. Peary, meanwhile, began a new series on CBS which was a rather obvious attempt to reproduce the Gildersleeve show with the names changed. The Harold Peary Show, lasting a single season, included a fictitious radio show within the show. This was Honest Harold, hosted by Peary's new character.
Waterman and Peary were longtime friends from Chicago radio; Waterman had replaced Peary as the Sheriff in The Tom Mix Ralston Straightshooters in the 1930s. His voice was a near-perfect match for Peary's, though he refused to use Peary's signature laugh. Peary reportedly sued unsuccessfully to retain the right to both the Gildersleeve character and vocalisms, but Waterman agreed with Peary that only one man held the patent on the Gildersleeve laugh.
Starting in mid-1952, some of the program's long time characters (Judge Hooker, Floyd Munson, Marjorie and her husband) would be missing for months at a time. In their place were a few new ones (Mr. Cooley, the Egg Man, and Mrs. Potter the hypochondriac) who would last only a month or so. By 1953, Gildy's love life took center stage over that of his family and friends. His many love interests were constantly shifting, and women were coming and going with such frequency that the audience had a hard time keeping up. His adversary, meanwhile, shifted from Mr. Bullard, who disappeared completely from the cast of characters, to Dr. Clarence Olsen (George N. Niese).
1954 saw a drastic change in the show's format. After missing the fall schedule, it finally appeared in November as 15-minute episodes that aired five times a week, Sunday through Thursday from 10:15 to 10:30pm Eastern, immediately following the quarter-hour version of Fibber McGee and Molly
Fibber McGee and Molly
Fibber McGee and Molly was an American radio comedy series which maintained its popularity over decades. It premiered on NBC in 1935 and continued until its demise in 1959, long after radio had ceased to be the dominant form of entertainment in American popular culture.-Husband and wife in real...
. Only Gildy, Leroy and Birdie remained on a continuing basis. All other characters were seldom heard and gone were Marjorie and her family as well as the studio audience, live orchestra and original scripts.
Television
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
(after the pilot episode appeared twice on the network in late 1954), also starring Waterman, premiered in 1955 but lasted only 39 episodes. During that year, both the 15-minute radio show and the television show were being produced simultaneously. The radio series was taped on days when the TV production was inactive. Because of the grueling schedule, quality suffered. Only a few examples of the quarter-hour shows have survived. By the time the radio show entered its final season, The Great Gildersleeve
Rerun
A rerun or repeat is a re-airing of an episode of a radio or television broadcast. The invention of the rerun is generally credited to Desi Arnaz. There are two types of reruns—those that occur during a hiatus, and those that occur when a program is syndicated. Reruns can also be, as the...
s of previous episodes.
The television series is considered now to be something of an insult to the Great Gildersleeve legacy. Gildersleeve was sketched as less lovable, more pompous and a more overt womanizer, an insult amplified when Waterman himself said the key to the television version's failure was its director not having known a thing about the radio classic. Peary later appeared in the 1959 TV version of Fibber McGee and Molly as Mayor LaTrivia. Fibber McGee and Molly also failed to migrate to television in the 1950s without radio stars Jim and Marion Jordan in the TV cast. Actress Barbara Stuart
Barbara Stuart
Barbara Ann Stuart was an American actress.-Major roles:Stuart portrayed "Miss Bunny", the girlfriend of Sergeant Vincent Carter, played by Frank Sutton, on three seasons of CBS's Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C....
landed her first television acting role on The Great Gildersleeve in the role of Gildersleeve's secretary, Bessie.
Child actor Michael Winkelman
Michael Winkelman
Michael L. Winkelman was an American child actor best known for his role as Little Luke McCoy from 1957 to 1963 in 157 episodes of the situation comedy television series, The Real McCoys, starring Walter Brennan in the title role of Grandpa Amos McCoy, with Richard Crenna as Luke McCoy, older...
, later of The Real McCoys
The Real McCoys
The Real McCoys is an American situation comedy co-produced by Danny Thomas' "Marterto Productions", in association with Walter Brennan and Irving Pincus's "Westgate" company...
, made his first television appearance on The Great Gildersleeve in the role of 9-year-old Bruce Fuller.
Movies
After joining Jim and Marion Jordan (as Fibber McGee and Molly) and fellow radio favorite Edgar BergenEdgar Bergen
Edgar John Bergen was an American actor and radio performer, best known as a ventriloquist.-Early life:...
in Look Who's Laughing (1941) and Here We Go Again (1942), Peary finally received top billing for a brief series of RKO films. The Great Gildersleeve (1942) also carried Randolph from the radio cast to the screen, with Nancy Gates as Marjorie and Freddie Mercer as Leroy. Walter Tetley, who played Leroy on radio, could not be seen on screen as Leroy because he was actually a child impersonator.
Gildersleeve on Broadway followed, in 1943; the story is centered on Leroy as the odd boy out as everyone around him is falling in love. Gildersleeve's Bad Day (1943) followed the mishaps around Gildy's call to jury duty; and, Gildersleeve's Ghost (1944) brings Gildy's relatives Randolph and Johnson up from the dead to help his campaign for police commissioner.
Peary went on to continue his career (often billed as Hal Peary) in films and television well into the 1970s; he was especially active as a voice actor for cartoons produced by Rankin-Bass and Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...
among others. He died of a heart attack in 1985. Waterman, who was a regular supporting character on radio's The Halls of Ivy
The Halls of Ivy
The Halls of Ivy is an NBC radio sitcom that ran from 1950-1952. It was created by Fibber McGee & Molly co-creator/writer Don Quinn before being adapted into a CBS television comedy produced by ITC Entertainment and Television Programs of America...
while doing his version of Gildersleeve, died a decade later.
Recordings
In full Gildersleeve character, at the height of the show's popularity, Harold Peary recorded three albums, reading popular children's stories for Capitol RecordsCapitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
, in heavy-bookleted four-disc 78rpm record
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
s. Stories for Children, Told in His Own Way by the Great Gildersleeve, was released in 1945 and was Capitol's first-ever such release for children. With orchestral accompaniment, it featured "Puss in Boots
Puss in Boots
'Puss' is a character in the fairy tale "The Master Cat, or Puss in Boots" by Charles Perrault. The tale was published in 1697 in his Histoires ou Contes du temps passé...
," "Rumpelstiltskin
Rumpelstiltskin
Rumpelstiltskin is the eponymous character and protagonist of a fairy tale which originated in Germany . The tale was collected by the Brothers Grimm, who first published it in the 1812 edition of Children's and Household Tales...
," and "Jack and the Beanstalk
Jack and the Beanstalk
Jack and the Beanstalk is a folktale said by English historian Francis Palgrave to be an oral legend that arrived in England with the Vikings. The tale is closely associated with the tale of Jack the Giant-killer. It is known under a number of versions...
." The second album, Children's Stories as Told by the Great Gildersleeve, in 1946, featured Hansel and Gretel
Hansel and Gretel
"Hansel and Gretel" is a well-known fairy tale of German origin, recorded by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812. Hansel and Gretel are a young brother and sister threatened by a cannibalistic hag living deep in the forest in a house constructed of cake and confectionery. The two children...
and The Brave Little Tailor, again with orchestral accompaniment. The third and final album in the series, reverting to the title of the first and released in 1947, included "Snow White
Snow White
"Snow White" is a fairy tale known from many countries in Europe, the best known version being the German one collected by the Brothers Grimm...
and Rose Red
Rose Red
Rose Red is a character in the fairy tale Snow-White and Rose-Red, recorded by the Brothers Grimm. She is the sister of Snow-White, not to be confused with Snow White...
" and "Cinderella
Cinderella
"Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune...
," once more with full orchestral accompaniment. The music was by Robert Emmett Dolan. To make sure stories would be unmistakably Gildersleevian without compromising their core integrity, Capitol brought in The Great Gildersleeve's chief writers, Sam Moore and John Whedon, to adapt them to Gildy's unmistakable bearing.
The Gildersleeve character was parodied in the 1945 Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
cartoon Hare Conditioned
Hare Conditioned
Hare Conditioned is a 1945 Warner Bros. cartoon in the Looney Tunes series. It was directed by Chuck Jones. It stars Bugs Bunny, who was voiced by Mel Blanc.The Stacey's manager was done by Dick Nelson....
, in which the rabbit distracts a menacing taxidermist
Taxidermy
Taxidermy is the act of mounting or reproducing dead animals for display or for other sources of study. Taxidermy can be done on all vertebrate species of animals, including mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians...
by telling him that he sounds "just like that guy on the radio, the Great Gildersneeze!" The taxidermist responds with "I do?!" followed by Gildy's famous chuckle. The Gildersleeve voice in this cartoon was done by radio actor and voice artist Dick Nelson.
Listen to
- Great Gildersleeve old time radio show
- The Great Gildersleeve radio shows
- The Great Gildersleeve Listen online 10pm, Wednesdays, WHAV
- Outlaws Old Time Radio Corner
Further reading
- The Great Gildersleeve by Charles Stumpf and Ben Ohmart, 157 pp, illustrated, ISBN 0-9714570-0-X BearManor Media, PO Box 71426, Albany GA 31708 BearManor Media
- Gildy's Scrapbook. Albany: BearManor Media